Josh Hancock ‘The Devil and My Daughter’ Review

It’s sad when it takes you three months to read a 200-page novel. It’s downright miserable when that 200-page book is absolutely top-notch.

Josh Hancock’s latest (unless he’s released another book in the gajillion years it took me to read this one), The Devil and My Daughter is beautifully crafted in unorthodox fashion. In fact, it’s structured just as Hancock’s previous novel, The Girls of October was. Will Hancock look to carve out a successful career as an author while utilizing an extremely atypical style?

Here’s hoping so, because these stories and Hancock are astonishingly refreshing.

The story centers on a young film crew who shoot an extreme indie horror film. It’s not an uncommon practice, by any means, but the tragic affect that this particular film has on the cast and crew is the true fuel of nightmares. To say that those participating in the production don’t escape unscathed is a radical understatement.

The story unravels through a series of testimonies, news articles, police reports, script readings and more. And this method – again, the same method utilized in The Girls of October – works in such an engaging way. This could have been a simple horror production gone wrong story, but Hancock invests a wealth of creative energy to ensure that his novel doesn’t read the same as the countless novels of similar premise.

Avoiding spoilers has been tough in this instance, but The Devil and My Daughter is definitely a book you want to read, rather than read about.

Fans of horror cinema and genuine inventiveness are in store for an exceptional read with some captivating characters and – as one might expect – some heartbreaking twists. While book readers will flock, it’s the real film buffs that deserve a chance to jump into Hancock’s latest masterpiece.